BENTONVILLE -- The first construction phase of the city's next fire station will begin this year.
The City Council approved 6-0 beginning construction, which includes all the site preparation, at its meeting Tuesday. Council member Jon Terlouw was absent.
Council Action
Bentonville’s City Council met Tuesday and approved:
• Paying $31,008 to Total Security Solutions to install window barriers on the first and second floors of the Community Building.
• Buying 450 trees for $32,718 from Frank Sharum Landscape for the annual Tree Planting Blitz on Nov. 7.
• A Through the Fence Airport Access Agreement with VBT Flying Centre, LLC.
• Hiring CEI Engineering Associates for services associated with design and construction of a sanitary sewer interceptor in southwest Bentonville.
Source: Staff Report
Phase one includes tasks such as erosion control, earthwork, storm drains, fire line and hydrant, and hydro-seeding, Brent Boydston, fire chief, explained in a memo to city officials. Phase one isn't to exceed $351,000.
Phase two will be the building, and money for it is anticipated to be in the 2019 budget, according to Mayor Bob McCaslin.
The project is anticipated to cost $2.5 million, he said. That includes the money approved for phase one Tuesday.
The station will be the Fire Department's seventh. It will be built on 2.3 acres on Southwest Prime Avenue in the city's southwest.
Southwest Prime Avenue connects an apartment complex to Southwest Regional Airport Boulevard. The station will be just northeast of the apartment complex.
A seventh station is needed for quicker response times and to meet the increase in calls for service, Boydston said in the fall during budget discussions.
The new station will also help keep the city's Insurance Service Office rating low, city officials have said.
The ISO rating is the Insurance Service Office evaluation of the distribution of fire stations in a community as part of its Public Protection Classification program. Ratings under the program help determine home insurance rates. The lower the number, the better the rating.
The program's criteria says an area should have a fire station within 1.5 road miles of the protected properties and a ladder-service truck within 2.5 road miles, according to Fire Chiefs Online, a website provided by the program.
The city's current rating is an ISO 2, said Kevin Boydston, deputy chief.
Station No. 7 will be about 4 miles southwest of Station No. 6 at 3312 S.W. I St. and opened in March 2015 with nine firefighters.
The Planning Commission approved development plans for the station in June.
Jackson Brown Palculict Architects, CEI Engineering and Clinard Construction are working on the project.
The council also approved replacing the Fire Department's support truck from Sunbelt Fire in the Houston-Galveston, Texas, area for $633,000.
The support truck is used for dealing with hazardous material, high-angle rescues and extrication, Brent Boydston said in his memo to city officials.
The 18-year-old truck has about 130,000 miles on the engine and transmission. The department budgeted $640,000 to buy a replacement this year, according to Boydston.
NW News on 08/29/2018